Social development
Civil society
Officers queried on shootings
Military police officers involved in the clash on Veng Sreng Boulevard that led to the deaths of at least four protesters earlier this month have been questioned in connection with the shootings, though none will face charges, a military police spokesman said yesterday. The five officers, ...
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/officers-queried-shootings
NGOs push for boost in female candidates
More than 50 per cent of candidates nominated by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party and the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party in the upcoming provincial and district council elections should be women, a coalition of 12 civil society groups said in a letter on Thursday. ...
Vong Sokheng and Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ngos-push-boost-female-candidates
Labor Leaders Say Negotiations Should Continue
International trade leaders say Cambodia’s workers and managers should continue to negotiate for an increase in wages, despite a deadly crackdown on worker protests earlier this month. Workers want a raise in the minimum wage to $160 per month to keep up with the rising cost ...
Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer
http://www.voacambodia.com/content/labor-leaders-say-negotiations-should-continue/1837064.html
Community Marks Fifth Anniversary of Violent Eviction
About 150 members of the former Dey Krahorm community in Phnom Penh’s Chamkar Mon district marked the fifth anniversary on Friday of the day mechanical excavators, security guards and authorities destroyed their homes to make room for a real estate project. Much like on past anniversaries, ...
Khuon Narim and Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/community-marks-fifth-anniversary-of-violent-eviction-51017/
Interior Ministry Says No to Freedom Park Rally
The government will consider a planned union rally on Sunday of several thousand people at Freedom Park in Phnom Penh an attempt to “overthrow the government,” Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said on Friday. Phnom Penh municipality rejected the request to hold the rally, but ...
Sinary Sany
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/interior-ministry-says-no-to-freedom-park-rally-51032/
Unions to Proceed With Mass Rally in Freedom Park Despite Ban
Unions planning a mass rally at Phnom Penh’s Freedom Park on Sunday to call for the release of 23 detainees and a higher minimum wage in the garment industry say they will proceed with the event despite City Hall’s decision Thursday to deny permission. The nine ...
Civil society groups appeal for international intervention for the release of 23 protesters
181 national and international non-governmental organizations handed over their petitions to foreign embassies on Thursday to seek the release of 23 people who were arrested in protest crackdowns. A group of some 50 representatives marched along the streets and submitted the petitions to the German, Sweden ...
The Cambodia Herald News Staff
http://thecambodiaherald.com/cambodia/detail/1?page=15&token=MzYwOTcwZDY5ZjV
More Plots Readied for Land Titles at Boeng Kak
Phnom Penh deputy governor Khuong Sreng oversaw the demarcation of five more plots of land Thursday in the city’s Boeng Kak neighborhood, where at least 48 families are still fighting for formal land titles. Some 3,000 families have been evicted from the neighborhood since the city ...
Mech Dara and Matt Blomberg
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/more-plots-readied-for-land-titles-at-boeng-kak-51002/
Chea Vichea Remembered 10 Years After Slaying
Ten years ago Wednesday, union leader Chea Vichea walked to his favorite newsstand in front of Wat Lanka to read the day’s headlines: Prime Minister Hun Sen had ordered spending cuts, health officials were trying to handle the first outbreak of bird flu in Southeast ...
Khy Sovuthy and Denise Hruby
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/chea-vichea-remembered-10-years-after-slaying-50962/
Chinese Push Sesan Dam Talks With Hun Sen
The chairman of the Chinese company whose subsidiary will construct the Lower Sesan 2 dam met with Prime Minister Hun Sen on Wednesday to inform him that the dam would be completed in three years’ time, Mr. Hun Sen’s assistant said. Zhang Tingke, vice president of ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/chinese-push-sesan-dam-talks-with-hun-sen-50978/
Petitioners set for Round 2 of showdown with City Hall
Protesters were due to march on four foreign embassies this morning to deliver petitions calling for the release of the 23 detainees held at the remote Correctional Centre 3 after being arrested during the crackdown earlier this month. The march – to the embassies of Germany, ...
Mom Kunthear and Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/petitioners-set-round-2-showdown-city-hall
Slum improvements planned
Civil society groups and Phnom Penh municipal officials next month will hold a workshop to decide which designated slum areas will be the focus of a planned pilot project to improve living standards. On Tuesday night, Phnom Penh governor Pa Socheatavong and members of civil society ...
Chhay Channyda
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/slum-improvements-planned
Digital Divide staff back on job
A week-long strike involving more than 100 work-study participants at Phnom Penh-based NGO Digital Divide Data ended on Sunday following talks conducted by the social enterprise’s CEO, who flew in from New York to attend to the matter, participants and management said yesterday. Program participants, who ...
Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/digital-divide-staff-back-job
After Arrests, NGOs Continue Petitioning to ‘Free the 23′
Following the arrest of 11 activists on Tuesday as they attempted to deliver a petition to the U.S. and French embassies seeking the release of 23 jailed protesters, NGO representatives quietly delivered similar petitions to the Japanese Embassy and European Union headquarters Wednesday. The petitioners, representing ...
Aun Pheap and Mech Dara
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/after-arrests-ngos-continue-petitioning-to-free-the-23-50966/
Pro-Government Unions Call for Action Against Leaders of Strikes
Unions aligned with Prime Minister Hun Sen’s government issued a statement Wednesday calling on it to “take action” against union leaders who they accuse of inciting workers to hold strikes and violent demonstrations. “We would like to request [CPP Labor Minister] Ith Sam Heng to take ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/pro-government-unions-call-for-action-against-leaders-of-strikes-50970/
LGBT advocates seek equality
The government must amend legislation to stamp out hate crimes and discrimination against Cambodia’s gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender citizens, rights activists said during a forum in the capital yesterday. During the second day of the first community dialogue dedicated to the advancement and discussion ...
Amelia Woodside
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/lgbt-advocates-seek-equality
11 Activists Arrested for Views That ‘Impact Public Order’
Eleven political activists were pulled off the street by helmeted security guards Tuesday morning during a peaceful march to foreign embassies to deliver petitions calling for an end to government violence and the release of 23 imprisoned activists and strikers. The 11 protesters—10 land rights activists ...
Phorn Bopha and Colin Meyn
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/eleven-activists-arrested-for-views-that-impact-public-order-50934/
Union Leader Released; ‘Free the 23’ Protests To Continue
Phnom Penh police released union leader Sok Chhun Oeung from custody Monday, a day after dragging him off the street at a peaceful protest he had organized along Phnom Penh’s riverside against the detention of 23 men still in jail for participating in demonstrations over ...
Aun Pheap
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/union-leader-released-free-the-23-protests-to-continue-50902/
EU resolution passed against sugar abuses
The European Parliament has passed a resolution calling on the bloc’s executive body to urgently act on an EU preferential trade scheme found to have carried high risks of human rights violations in Cambodia through land evictions for industrial sugar development. In a January 16 resolution, ...
Kevin Ponniah
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/eu-resolution-passed-against-sugar-abuses
Marchers to flout ban on protests
Hundreds of civil society representatives, garment workers and community groups are expected to take to the streets this morning to deliver petitions to foreign embassies calling on the government to release the 23 people arrested during garment worker strikes earlier this month and find justice ...
Kevin Ponniah and Cheang Sokha
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/marchers-flout-ban-protests
11 Activists Arrested While Petitioning US, French Embassies
District security guards this morning arrested 11 political activists taking part in a protest in front of the U.S. Embassy in Phnom Penh against the imprisonment of 23 protesters who were beaten and arrested earlier this month. The protesters, including union leader Rong Chhun and prominent ...
The Cambodia Daily News Staff
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/11-activists-arrested-while-petitioning-us-french-embassies-50916/
Try Pheap loggers sued
More than 200 families filed a complaint with the Preah Vihear provincial court yesterday against two employees of logging tycoon Try Pheap who allegedly cleared 15 hectares of community forest late last year before being stopped by villagers. Huon Kino, 39, a representative of the 203 ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/try-pheap-loggers-sued
Beyond Chea Vichea, Many Cases Lack Accountability, Justice
Ahead of the 10-year anniversary on Wednesday of the assassination of Free Trade Union (FTU) President Chea Vichea, police said Monday that despite their inability to bring anyone to justice for the high-profile slaying, the case remains open. However, Chea Mony, the brother of Chea Vichea, ...
Khy Sovuthy and Lauren Crothers
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/eu-ambassador-distances-local-delegation-from-resolution-50914/
Hun Sen Calls On CPP Voters To Defend His Government
Speaking two weeks after crushing opposition party demonstrations demanding his resignation, Prime Minister Hun Sen on Saturday called on supporters of his ruling CPP to prepare to stand up against any group aiming to overthrow his government. “All of you who voted for the CPP, be ...
Hul Reaksmey
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/news/hun-sen-calls-on-cpp-voters-to-defend-his-government-50875/